Home » The Archives » Chapter 12 » Playing with Fire
| Re: Playing with Fire [message #472 is a reply to message #471] |
Mon, 23 July 2012 21:09   |
artisticrainey
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Registered: July 2012
Location: Northern Ireland
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Field Commander
Switzerland |
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Tuesday, October 16, 4 p.m.
Cassie ran along the beach, kicking up some sand with each stride. Still, running along the beach was more enjoyable than running the busy city streets. I do miss having the other people around though, she thought. The crowds might be difficult to maneuver but I miss the distraction. Out here, it's just me, the crashing waves, and the occasional bird.
She glanced down at her stopwatch. She had almost reached the thirty minutes she had planned on running. Keeping an eye on the watch, she kept jogging until the numbers switched to thirty minutes. She slowed to a stop, hitting the button to pause the timer on her watch while she was at it.
The main portion of her workout completed, she kept walking, taking a drink of water from the water bottle she carried as she did so. After a few minutes she stopped and put the water bottle down on the ground. She began doing some stretches beginning the cool down portion of the workout.
When she completed the normal stretches, she retrieved her water bottle. She took another drink from it and twisted the top back on. Resetting the stop watch, she began a slow, cool down jog. As she jogged, she glanced out across the ocean. In the distance she spotted two people out in the ocean. From her current distance she couldn't make out who it was.
Before long she was close enough to tell the two people were surfing. Which two occupants of the island were out there she still wasn't sure of. Cassie continued to watch as she jogged closer. Wipeout, she thought as she saw the one person fall off the board and disappear briefly under the surface. The second person rode the wave all the way in. Finally close enough to make out who it was, she watched as Gordon picked up his surfboard and turned to look for his companion, who was just breaking the surface.
"Up for one more wave, Scott?" Gordon called out, as Scott reached his board.
"Not today," Scott called back to him. "I think I've had enough salt water."
"Fine," Gordon said, planning on waiting for his brother. He glanced to his left and spotted Cassie slowing down to a walk. "Good afternoon, Cassie."
"Hi, Gordon. Enjoying yourself?" Cassie asked, taking a drink from her water bottle.
"I am. Not so sure about Scott though," Gordon said with a nod toward the ocean. "He's spent as much time off his board as on it this afternoon. What about you?"
"Just out enjoying a run. I wanted to get outside for a little while. Seems I've spent most of the day indoors," Cassie replied, as Scott approached the two of them. "Hi, Scott," she said hesitantly. She hadn't talked to him since the end of the flight lesson the day before.
"Hello," he replied neutrally.
Gordon looked from Cassie to his brother and back again at Cassie. He could tell something was going on between the two of them, though he had no clue what.
Cassie took a deep breath. She had been waiting for Scott to bring up the subject of their last conversation as he had told her they'd would discuss it later. He had yet to broach the topic and Cassie decided to take the initiative. It would probably be best if we had this whole situation straightened out before the next lesson tomorrow.
"Scott, do you have time to talk right now?" she asked.
"Yeah, sure," he replied with a nod. "I'll catch up with you later, Gordon."
"Okay," Gordon said. "Want me to take your board?"
"Sure," Scott said, handing his surfboard over to his brother. As Gordon headed up to the villa, he turned his attention back to Cassie.
Nervously, Cassie started walking slowly down the beach. Scott followed, falling into step beside her. He waited patiently for her to start the conversation as she had been the one to say she wanted to talk.
"Look, about yesterday, I'm sorry about the accusation I made. Your suggestion caught me off guard and I just instinctively went on the defensive. Not that I'm using that as an excuse, I just thought you deserved an explanation."
"Apology accepted," Scott told her, realizing how hard it was for her to make the apology. That's one thing I can definitely relate to her on, he thought. "That still leaves us with the decision of what to do about your lessons. I'm not sure going on with the way things are right now is such a good idea. I know you know the material," he said quickly, not giving her a chance to interrupt him. "I could ask you a random question right now and you'd probably have no problem giving me an answer. Your problem is putting what you know to use in the simulator."
Scot thought about his earlier conversation with his brother. Was Virgil right? Was he making her nervous?
"If I'm going to continue giving you lessons, I think we need to figure out what the problem is, no matter what it is. Even if it really is me, in which case I'd like to know what it is so I can try to change. I've already had to turn one student over to someone else. Explaining to my father that I wanted to do so again isn't exactly high on my list of things I want to do. I'd prefer that we work whatever the problem is out between us. "
Cassie took a drink of water, taking a few moments to think about what she wanted to say before she actually opened her mouth. Her conversation with Luke the evening before was still fresh in her mind.
"It's not anything specific," Cassie began, as she screwed the lid of the water bottle back on. She took a deep breath. The only way this was going to get worked out was if she was completely honest with him. "Since the start, I've had the feeling that you really didn't want me here. Like choosing me for this position was more your father's and Virgil's decision than yours."
Scott looked down at the ground. She certainly read that right, he thought. "I thought we cleared up the issues from our first encounter."
"We did. I meant what I said then, too. Still, since I moved here permanently you haven't exactly come off as friendly. Other than work related things, I think this is the first time we've actually talked. Yes, I haven't exactly made any attempts myself. Guess I felt too intimidated to approach you," she said with a shrug. "Maybe I was reading something into it that wasn't there," she continued. "After all, the years of hearing my father and ex-husband telling me I shouldn't be a firefighter has made me a little defensive when it comes to my career but I felt like I needed to prove to you that I belonged here. I saw the flight lessons as a chance to do that, but once I got into the simulator, my mind went blank and it seemed the harder I tried the worse it got. When you suggested someone else giving me lessons, I felt as if you thought teaching me to fly was hopeless." She made a face which matched the rueful tone in her voice. "Which I've got to admit, I'm starting to think might be accurate."
"I don't think the prospect of you learning to fly is hopeless," Scott told her. As she was being open about the situation, he felt he should be, too. "As for the other part, no, you weren't my choice out of the candidates we had to select from. You were actually Virgil's first choice, and don't go telling him I told you this, but I think he chose the right person."
He looked over at Cassie to find her looking at him with a surprised expression on her face.
"Look. I'm not exactly good at given praise. There wasn't room for that in the Air Force but, as my stepmother reminded me last night, I'm not in the Air Force anymore. I've been impressed with your performance here so far. You came in and threw yourself right into the training. Virgil said you were making suggestions during your first training session with him. As for the flying, we didn't hire you to be a pilot. If it takes you a little longer to catch on, then fine. People learn things at different paces. Flying could be something that you're going to take to a little slower than what you're used to."
"You've got a point there," Cassie said with a thoughtful nod, appreciating the praise she had gotten from him. "So, are you still willing to give me flying lessons?"
"If that's what you want. It'll save me from explaining things to my father."
"That's what I want. Your father obviously thinks you're best suited to train me in this area."
"Okay, then," Scott told her. "Meanwhile, why don't the two of us spend some time getting to know each other a little better," he suggested, deciding to follow through on the rest of the advice Virgil had given him. "Have any plans right now?"
"No."
"Do you like playing pool?"
Cassie laughed, thinking of some of her previous attempts at playing that game. "I enjoy it though I'm not exactly any good at it"
"Then how about we go up to the house? I'll change into regular clothes and we can talk over a friendly game of pool." He gave her a grin. "I promise I'll go easy on you."
"You're on. I'll be interested to see how you define 'going easy on one'," Cassie said, smiling. With that, The two of them turned around and headed back in the direction of the path leading up to the villa.
--clearing the air, by starrynebula on March 11, 2008
  
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